Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has had his say on Liverpool.
It has been a difficult past week for the reds. The Premier League side suffered two bad results in the space of the same week. Liverpool lost the second leg of their Champions League tie to Paris Saint-Germain. The French side won 1-0 at Anfield, and took the game to extra time. PSG eventually won on penalties to progress to the next round.
The same weekend, Liverpool suffered a shock defeat in the League Cup final. Newcastle secured a shock 2-1 result at Wembley on Sunday. Goals from Dan Burn and Alexander Isak were enough for Eddie Howe’s side to win the trophy. Liverpool were lethargic in the game, and only came to life after they were 2-0 down. A late consolation goal from Federico Chiesa was not enough to claw back the result.
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Paul Scholes makes Liverpool revelation
Credit: Imago Images
Arne Slot was having a great season with the reds, and Liverpool looked like they were on their way to winning the treble. However, in the past few weeks, the squad has not been able to handle the demands on challenging on multiple fronts. Against PSG and Newcastle, the team looked flat and lacked energy. The absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold also played a huge part in both results.
Earlier this season, Arne Slot choose specific games to rest Liverpool players. But getting near the tail end of the season, the Dutch coach has not been so careful with managing the squad. Paul Scholes has given his opinion on why this Liverpool team failed to make their treble push:
“I think the big mistake is that Southampton game. He could have changed 11 players, the result didn’t really matter, you’re 12 points clear, you probably still would have won.
“Giving rest to the players was big and it’s show now, hasn’t it?
“You can’t underestimate how it’s affected you on Tuesday night against PSG, going out of that, it just deflates everything.”
Liverpool have only the Premier League to challenge for when they return from the international break.
Is Scholes right?
Resting Liverpool stars in the game against Southampton would have been the best decision. But it looked like Arne Slot was not content that his backups could do the job against the Saints. This is a major part of the reason why the reds are looking to beef up the squad heading into the new season. One player who could be first out of the door this summer is Diogo Jota. The forward has been linked with a move back to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
